Job 22:21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
Bro. James brought an excellent lesson yesterday evening on the subject of peace. In one statement, the gist of the message was that the God we serve is the source of peace (He never lacks or loses control of any situation!), and if we are to have peace, we must obtain it from Him by loving His law (Psalm 119:165) and trusting in Him (Isaiah 26:3-4). Now, there was much, much more to it, and it'd be worth taking the time to listen to when you have a chance (click here).
One of the many verses we turned to was the above passage in the book of Job, and this one stuck out in my mind, especially that first phrase, Acquaint now thyself with him. The book of Job tells us that the way to have peace and blessing it to get to know the Lord.
Now, as a believer I both know God and am known of Him (John 10:14; Galatians 4:9). That's my standing; my eternal, unchanging position before God in heaven (Ephesians 2:6). But as far as my state – that is, my temporal, oft-changing condition before men on the earth – is concerned, I need to know God better. That I may know Him was Paul's desire (Philippians 3:10).
Recognizing that I need to know God better, how should I go about it? How do I acquaint myself with Him? The answer would obviously be the same way you get to know anybody. Spend time with Him. Talk to Him. Talk with Him.
And if you're a good Christian, you do those things. You read your Bible. You pray. You go to church and hear preaching from God's word. But if you're anything like I am, how often do you do those things without any thought or effort toward getting to know God any better? How often do you go through your prayer list without ever actually talking with the Lord? How often do you mark off your daily Bible reading without having much of any idea about what you read or what it meant or what it said about the author?
Let's be careful to remember the real reason we do so many of the things we do as Christians. Let's strive to acquaint ourselves more with our Lord, to draw nigh to Him (James 4:8), and to please Him more (Hebrews 13:20-21).
Great Post Bro. David. I am very guilty of just doing the things a christian does, and not getting to really KNOW Him. Thank you for your encouraging posts, even when it hits the heart and we see we need to change something in our lives that doesn't please God. Keep preaching the truth!
ReplyDelete